


tfw you pour your heart out but the mic was off

by Mister_Scandalous



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Crying, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Insecure Logic | Logan Sanders, Logan has a breakdown, Logic | Logan Sanders Angst, Sad Logic | Logan Sanders, Sympathetic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Sympathetic Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, Sympathetic Morality | Patton Sanders, Sympathetic Thomas, They stop being unsympathetic at the last chapter!, Unsympathetic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Unsympathetic Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Unsympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Unsympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, Unsympathetic Morality | Patton Sanders, Unsympathetic Sides (Sanders Sides), Zoom Call, dont worry they'll see through their bs i think, original character is orange side, thats new amiright, unsympathetic Thomas, video call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25570066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mister_Scandalous/pseuds/Mister_Scandalous
Summary: Thomas suggests a new video idea; everyone settles back to their usual routine. The usual routine involves Logan shutting up, naturally.
Relationships: Logic | Logan Sanders & Everyone, Logic | Logan Sanders & Thomas Sanders
Comments: 43
Kudos: 343





	1. With Thomas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AppleFlavoredKitkats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleFlavoredKitkats/gifts).



It was a little while after Janus had been accepted and when they had gotten more comfortable around Remus. After Roman had a full breakdown on camera and after Virgil came back out of his room to have a long heavy talk with Thomas. It was after all that when everyone started settling back to their normal routine, now with two new members of the family. Their big beautiful loving family.  
  
_Some family._  
  


-

Thomas recently introduced a new style of filming the Asides videos. It was suggested by a fan online and was easier to make so he thought it was a fantastic idea. They were going to have a video call instead of their usual ‘sitting-around-the-couch’ filming. 

The other sides talked excitedly amongst themselves, giving their own inputs and comments about the idea. Roman especially was glowing with happiness regarding the ‘brand new original idea’. Thomas took this enthusiastic approval with pride, happy that they had gotten back to the flow of things. That, he realised, would probably make his logical side feel good. 

When he turned to look at Logan, however, Thomas noticed that Logan was oddly quiet during the discussion, only giving silent nods and small placid smiles that looked slightly forced. 

“Logan?” he asked, making said side look at him, “What do you think?”

For a brief second, Logan looked surprised but it was so quickly replaced by his usual neutral expression that Thomas thought he was imagining it. Logan’s face was unreadable for a moment before he gave Thomas a small genuine smile.

“I think it’s a smart decision, Thomas,” he said and left it at that.

Huh.

Thomas was sure this was supposed to be the moment where Logan would give him a readily made lecture about the ‘this and that’s of the idea. 

_‘This was new,’_ he thought at first, but as he stared at his logical side and the strange silence around him, a pit of dread slowly started pooling in his stomach. 

_‘Perhaps it isn’t that new,’_ a thought, unsure, started prodding into his head.

“Thomas, are you alright?”

His train of thought got cut off as he realised his sides were staring at him in concern. Thomas met the eyes of Patton who repeated his question.

“It’s just that, you got all quiet there, kiddo,” Patton said, his voice filled with worry.

_‘Logan’s been quiet recently and they never asked him if he’s alright,’_ the thought came, now a bit more malicious to its tone. Confusion came over Thomas. Where the hell did that even come from?

“I’m… alright,” he decided on, “I just got lost in thought it all,”

Patton gave him a sweet smile before pulling him into a conversation, their laughter and voices washing over him.

And just like that, any of his concerns were forgotten. Thomas never noticed that Logan wasn’t there with him anymore.

-

The video call started with Thomas doing his usual ‘What is up everybody!’ and each of the sides giving their small ‘hellos’ and such. Though Roman and Remus got into a mini-fight on which of their rooms and setups looked better, they managed to get on with the video.

“—I’m just saying that _maybe_ , and by maybe I’m saying we absolutely do not deserve all their hate!” Roman huffed loudly, making Thomas wince and pull away his earbuds. 

Managed was one way to put it. As normal as normal routine goes, they were arguing their way to solving a problem. This time, their topic of choice was the various hate comments Thomas was receiving recently.

“C’mon, Princey, how do you know we don’t deserve their hate? They’re probably right. We are a failure. Thomas, you screwed up big time. We should delete our channel and live as a hermit forever,” Virgil spat, his fists clenching and unclenching as he pulled on his hoodie strings. 

“But kiddo, they’re probably coming from a bad place and are just misunderstood!” 

“I, for one, think this is _not_ a waste of time and we _should_ keep reading these comments instead of say, just ignoring all the hate and treat ourselves,” Janus said smoothly before Patton or Virgil got into a horrible argument. 

“We should reply to all of them and tell them what’s going to happen to them once we got a hold of their body! Such as—“ 

Thomas groaned as Remus started listing various kidnapping methods. He pressed his hands to his face, already feeling the headache coming. 

“If I may, Thomas,” Logan started, trying to be heard over everyone else.

“Comments such as these are often what you call …” he gave a small glance to one of his vocab cards, “‘trolls’ and they are usually mean-spirited and do not need any further thought. People who do not have much else to do other than bring negativity in making these comments. Reading too much into them is damaging to your self-esteem and would increase your stress. However, we cannot simply stop looking at comments because there are still valid criticisms, comments, and inputs that we can learn from. That is the value of having an audience. The important thing is that—“ 

“Logan,” he groaned, “I did not process anything that you just said, can you please save it for later?” 

Logan fell silent. He opened his mouth as if to say something more but he snapped it back shut. His jaw tight and his brows furrowed. Logan looked off at the side, his gaze blank and refusing to meet Thomas’ eyes.

“Yeah, nerd! Sorry, but can’t you make your opinions optional again?” Roman gave a small laugh that the others joined in. Even Virgil gave a small snicker.

Logan gave a nod, which was more of a small twitch of his head or a flinch than an actual nod.

“Oh… I apologise,” he muttered with a quiet strained sort of voice before his video blacked out. He had turned off his camera and his microphone, Thomas realised.

“Geez, and I thought Roman was a drama queen,” Remus said as he gave a sharp-toothed grin.

“Now, Lo don’t be like that,” Patton said in a disappointed parent tone.

“Ignore the nerd Patton, he _definitely_ _isn’t_ overreacting,” Janus rolled his eyes.

Thomas sighed and the argument continued. But as time went by it seems they were getting nothing done. So he turned back to the blacked out box.

“Logan, can you tell us the thing you said earlier again?”

No response.

“Logan?” he asked again, and at the back of his mind, the thoughts started coming back up again.

“Ugh, L, c’mon. This is your time to make your really boring lecture again,” Virgil muttered.

“Forget it, we don’t need him for this type of stuff anyway,”

Thomas wasn’t even sure which of his sides said that one. Logan meanwhile stayed stubbornly silent. He let out a heavy breath as he moved back to their earlier argument.

The argument went on until they had to go to bed for the night, ultimately deciding to continue tomorrow.

Logan was still quiet. Thomas waited a little bit later after everyone else was gone to see if the logical side would show face again. Thomas eventually got tired, and though he fought it, he eventually logged off. Thomas whispered good night to his logical side and shut off his computer.

When they started the video call the next day, Thomas didn’t know what to feel when Logan appeared with his screen black and his mic off again. 

It was only until an hour later before they actually managed to find a good solution to their current dilemma. The fact that Thomas’ thoughts keep drifting back to Logan and his quiet black box wasn’t at all helpful.

“Oh, they are _absolutely_ telling the truth about you. Most of them are _definitely_ _not_ comments made by some awful people with too much time in their hands,” said Janus who was already applying a facemask.

“Yeah Thomas! Your fans love you! Those kiddos always leave a lot of wonderful comments praising our work!” Patton said, delighted.

“But what if those ‘haters’ are actually right?” Virgil groaned.

“Well, not all of them are right Emo Nightmare! What did Thomas say back then? Positive constructive criticism? Does ‘haha u suck ass’ sound like positive constructive criticism to you?” 

“It should be once we actually get our hands on some juicy butthole!”

Roman was waving his arms around, looking a mix of being incredibly energetic about their new insight and getting mad at his brother’s tactless comment. Thomas gave a small smile; grateful they finally managed to solve their issue, before he recalled something important.

“Wait—Logan you were right!” he exclaimed, remembering that Logan’s first suggestion was exactly the same as their current solution. But as Thomas glanced at Logan’s blank screen, he felt guilt coil into him.

“Oh, uh, sorry Logan,” he stuttered, and to his horror, Logan’s screen blipped out completely. Logan had left the call.

He felt nauseous and dizzy; bile was rising into his throat. Dread set in his stomach like lead.

And the thoughts were back again.

_‘What have you done?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by @ameliessanderssidesblog's zoom call idea. 
> 
> I wrote this at like 3am. Check out my Tumblr @mr-scandalous :> :> :>


	2. With Logan

Logan knew that he hadn’t been useful to Thomas much as of late. He tried as hard as he could to be accommodating, trying to be less invasive, less annoying.  
  
It never worked.  
  
Logan had taken to answering back with singular sentences if ever asked for his input; which wasn’t much anymore. Until the video call idea. Considering current events, it was a smart decision and he said so to Thomas when he was asked.  
  
And he was asked! Thomas asked for his opinion! It was baffling and a tiny flame of hope grew inside him. Logan knew, however, that he couldn’t let himself get carried away. So he answered back simply as he learned was best. It seemed to not satisfy Thomas because he kept staring at Logan.  
  
Patton called Thomas before Logan could say anything though. He was ignored yet again as per usual. Any hope he felt to be recognized had long been extinguished and he was a fool for trying to feed into it.  
  
Logan sunk out without anyone noticing, coming back to his room and settling on his desk, getting ready for the new video.  
  
He faintly wondered what he from the past would say if he saw Logan now. What he must look like, sitting there waiting for the call. He brushed his hands by the smooth mahogany of his desk, lost in his thoughts. Logic would think Logan was but a weak version of himself. Logic would scoff and tell Logan that he failed spectacularly if he was brushed aside this much. Logic would say that because Logic was important to Thomas. Logic had been listened to; had been valuable. Logic had done his job. Logan was barely any of these things anymore.  
  
Logan took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. He had been so _tired_ lately, doing all of his work behind the scenes. As he was no longer asked for his input, most of what Logan could have been provided through talking with the others had been pushed into the various fleeting thoughts he gave Thomas. Though most of which was brushed away, since Thomas favored Roman’s more fanciful ideas or Patton’s do-gooder decisions over his own logical insights.  
  
“Now, I can’t dwell on that, I have to focus,” Logan whispered to himself, bringing his hands up to rub at his arms a little.

His attention was then turned to his laptop when it began to ring, signalling that Thomas was starting the call. Logan slowly put back his glasses on his face, and exhaled heavily. He answered the call.

-

Logan made a lot of mistakes but this one had been his greatest yet. The answer to their problem had been so obvious that he forgot himself momentarily. He’d started talking and talking _and not shutting up._  
  
“Logan,” Thomas had groaned. Logan cut his rambling short with a sharp breath. He met Thomas’ eyes, and felt the cold wash over his body, holding himself still.

“I did not process anything that you just said, can you please save it for later?” 

Damn it to hell, he was so _stupid._ All of his work to mold himself into a lesser nuisance thrown out of the window because of an idiotic mistake; because he can’t help but run his mouth.  
  
He had disappointed Thomas.  
  
Logan opened his mouth to try and save his situation but promptly closed it. He’d only make it worse. His chest felt heavy and the room was suddenly freezing. He could feel sobs building up in his throat; tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He barely registered Roman’s comment and their mocking laughter surrounding him, but he still flinched away from the sound.

Logan looked away from Thomas, not able to take it anymore. He whispered a strained apology then shut off his mic and camera as fast he could before busting into uncontrollable sobs.  
  
Logan can hear them, their voices ringing in his ears.  
_  
‘Drama queen’  
  
‘Overreacting’_  
  
_‘Don’t be like that’_  
  
_‘Can’t you make your opinions optional again?’  
  
_His hands shaking, Logan pulled out a pen and his well-used notebook and started writing down all of their criticisms. He berated himself when his tears started staining the pages, bringing his hand up to wipe his face roughly.  
  
All of their comments recorded like data. With data, Logan can improve. Once Logan improves, maybe he could be part of the family. Patton would argue that he was already a part of them but Logan begged to differ. He was too much of a burden to be functional, to be a piece in the puzzle. _  
  
_“Logan, can you tell us the thing you said earlier again?”  
  
Logan froze, stopping his writing. He could feel tears starting to fall again.  
  
“Logan?”  
  
He stared hard at Thomas, who was calling his name. What would he even say? Logan opened his mouth.  
  
“Thomas?” he said, voice hoarse, “Wha—“  
  
“Ugh, L, c’mon. This is your time to make your really boring lecture again,” Virgil muttered.

Logan blinked, confused. He had answered! Didn’t they hear him?

“Forget it, we don’t need him for this type of stuff anyway,”  
  
“Wait—"

But Thomas had sighed and moved on. Logan’s eyes widened, not understanding what has just happened. His eyes moved around the screen, to the other sides faces, to his… Oh. His mic was still off.  
  
Logan broke, burying his head in his arms. His back started shaking from his frustrated sobs.  
  
‘ _We don’t need him’  
  
‘It must be true,’ _Logan concluded, ‘ _Data suggests that I am but an optional piece in the family dynamic, and through data I should make an intelligent decision,”  
  
_

-

The argument went on until it was late. Logan could barely register what they were talking about through his vision blurred by his tears and the ringing in his head.  
  
He noticed by the end that it was only him and Thomas left, but even Thomas left, only whispering a goodnight before leaving him alone.  
  
And then there was one.  
  
Until,

  
  
_“hello blue,”_  
  
Another screen popped up next to his. He rubbed his hands together to get some feeling back into them, before moving to open his mic and camera open again.  
  
“S-salutations Orange,” he murmured.  
  
_“i’ll see you later? :),”_  
  
“….”  
  
“…Of course,” Logan said finally.  
  


The call ends.

-

The argument continued the next day. Logan kept to his previous decision of keeping his mic and camera off. No more tears he told himself the night before. So he diligently took note of what the Thomas and the other sides discussed.  
  
It was an awful realisation when he saw where the conversation was headed to.  
  
“Wait—Logan you were right!” Thomas had said.  
  
This was unfair.

“Oh, uh, sorry Logan,”

  
  
_don’t you think it’s a bit unfair, blue?  
  
_

Unfair.

In one swift movement, he slammed his laptop shut. Whatever confidence he had built up for this, dissolving.

All of his frustrations bubbled over the surface coming out as he screamed into his hands until his throat was sore. He wiped away his tears over and over but it kept pouring out. He pulled at his hair, he scratched at his arms, but the horrible knot in his chest stayed.  
  
His kept coughing through his sobs, not being able to take in air properly. His room was cold again. He stood up and stumbled his way to his bed where he curled up beneath his sheets.  
  
_‘You were right!’_

Logan had waited for this. This was what he had wanted.  
  
Life always had a cruel way of showing it.

  
_  
let me meet them, blue :)_

…  
  
..Okay.  
  
He took a long heavy breath.

  
  
**Okay.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways here's Logan's side of the story but oh what's this? Who's this new side?


	3. With Everyone Else

After Logan had left the video call it got quiet quickly. The other sides awkwardly glanced at each other, trying to make light of the situation. Thomas felt like they’ve committed a grave mistake and the guilt was clawing its way up his throat.  
  
“Wait, what did I miss? Why did Logan leave? What’s he right about?” Virgil asked, looking unsure.  
  
“Lo…” Patton whimpered, looking close to tears. Thomas was afraid that he was going to burst into a sobbing fit, but contrary to what he thought, Patton instead tensed and looked straight at him. A determined gleam set in the fatherly side’s eyes despite the wet quality to it.

“Thomas, we have to apologise,”  
  
“Apologise for what?” Roman whined indignantly, “Did you guys have a secret conversation? If so I’m really impressed cause the nerd, surprisingly, kept his mouth shut this entire time. I don’t know what kind of telepathy powers you have but I want in!”  
  
“Yes, Patton. What, exactly do we have to apologise for?” Janus asked brow raised.

“C’mon Double Dicks! They’re obviously talking about how we came to a solution Logan already presented yesterday!” said Remus far too gleefully for the situation.  
  
Janus blinked, surprised. He turned to Remus who was scribbling something on his desk, though whatever it was wasn’t visible. The deceitful side had a look on is face as if he was just realizing something.

_‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we just ignored him though? I mean, we’ve already been doing it from the start, what’s stopping us now?’_ a thought, cloying and accusatory, sang in his mind, making his head hurt a little. Seriously, where are these thoughts coming from?

Thomas shook his head, trying to clear it. He coughed, bringing the attention back to himself.  
  
“Patton’s right,” he said softly, “We have to apologise to Logan. We disregarded him completely in our discussion and who knows how many more times in the past,”  
  
The other sides, save Remus, had the decency to look sheepish under Thomas’ gaze. Patton shot a look at all of them that Thomas didn’t understand.  
  
Roman sighed, “We can’t go to his room right now though, because Logan heavily values his privacy. We’ll have to give him a bit more time, so we’ll have to do it tomorrow,”  
  
“Look at you Princey, actually thinking about other people’s boundaries. How did you even know that about L?” Virgil smirked, making Roman flush and squawk angrily.  
  
“Virgil, let’s focus on the problem here, kiddo,” Patton scolded, his tone quiet but serious, “We’ve been doing something terrible to a member of our family, this isn’t the time to joke around. We need to take some time to think about what we’ve done. Our actions here have grave consequences and we need to know how to go about this and _apologise_ ,”

The call fell quiet once again. Virgil looked shocked that Patton of all sides called him out. The implications of what he’d been doing suddenly came over him and he ducked his head, ashamed.  
  
“Sorry, Pops,”  
  
“I’m not who you should be apologizing to,” Patton whispered, but he no longer sounded scolding.  
  
“Roman’s suggestion is _not_ ideal though,” Janus cut in, “We _can’t_ do a video call tomorrow to see if Logan shows up so we _can’t_ ask him permission to talk in person. If he doesn’t show up then we _won’t_ try going to Logan’s room,” he said approvingly.  
  
Roman smiled a little, albeit sadly, “It’s settled then? Are we good with this plan?”  
  
There was a chorus of agreements and Thomas nodded his head, determined.  
  
After some scattering goodnights, the call ends.

-

  
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll grovel and kiss and lick at Nerdy Wolverine’s feet,” Remus said dismissively, waving his hand around.  
  
“Remus!” Janus hissed. The deceitful side was sitting at the dinner table, clutching a cup of coffee. Remus was sitting on the counter, eating a stick of deodorant. They had been talking about what had happened earlier and Janus was making sure Remus was going along with the plan.  
  
“What? I don’t know why I’m being grouped with you stick-in-the-buttholes,” Remus groaned, “I’ve told him to shut up like once cause he was ruining my fun. Y’all’re the ones that keep _silencing_ him,” he muttered the last part, but the other side heard him anyways.  
  
Janus flinched at the jab, but before he could respond, Remus started talking again.  
  
“But I get it, y’know, why we have to say sorry. It’s to make you guys feel better—“  
  
“This _is_ about us,” Janus cut in.  
  
Remus grinned, “Yeah sure, but sorry’s not gonna do anything Snake Dick. Logan wants attention, respect, and a listening ear. He’s got bunches and bunches of thoughts all stuffed in him that never goes anywhere cause no one ever hears him out,”  
  
“We—“  
  
“Nah you don’t. Most people tune him out and all he the stuff he says goes in from one ear and out the next, kinda like poopies! No one actually listens to him, and that’s all he really wants,”  
  
“How do you—“  
  
“Know this?” Remus interrupted, grinning widely. Janus glared at him, but it was half-hearted.  
  
Remus hummed his theme song under his breath for a brief moment.  
  
“ _I get it_ ,” he repeated, staring into Janus’ eyes and this time Janus understood.

-

Roman and Virgil were seated at the couch. The sound of Patton cooking in the kitchen drifted into the living room. An awkward silence surrounded them, neither knowing what to say.  
  
Virgil surprisingly was the first one to fill the dead air.  
  
“I’ve been a real asshole, huh,”  
  
“Yeah, but we were all assholes,” Roman answered back, meeting Virgil’s eyes.  
  
“No, I mean, true, but you’ve been trying your best to be nicer to all of us even if you slip up every now and then. Patton’s never intentionally mean, but he’s been working on watching himself more. Dec—Janus is working with Pat. Remus is more scary than mean-spirited but he can’t help that!  
  
I haven’t changed at all. I took advantage of the fact that you couldn’t insult me anymore and started honing in on you guys. I was being a jerk,” Virgil spat, pulling his hood over his head.  
  
Roman stared at the other side for a moment, before turning and leaning back heavily into the couch.  
  
“I won’t disagree with you there,”  
  
They both turned to see Patton entering the living room with a plate of cookies. He placed the plate on the coffee table then sat down on the couch in between Roman and Virgil.  
  
“It got into your head a bit, kiddo, and that’s partly my fault,” he said.  
  
His shoulders were tense and his eyes seemed to wander around the living room as if taking in everything for the first time. Roman gently placed a hand on Patton’s back, rubbing it to ease him a little. Patton smiled gratefully at the creative side.  
  
“I coddled you, let you do whatever you want so you felt accepted. But in doing so I also helped shut down everyone else in favor of you. I had such a blatant double standard and I was wrong for that.”

“But what’s important is we learn from our mistakes, and try to be better people,” Virgil finished quietly.  
  
Patton nodded and reached out a hand for Virgil to hold. Roman tensed beside the fatherly side, making Patton look at him.  
  
“What’s wrong Ro?”  
  
“That’s what Logan was doing,” Roman muttered, “’Learning from his mistakes to become a better person’ is what I think he was going for. But the mistakes he thought he had were just our mean criticisms of him,”  
  
“What do you mean?” Virgil spoke up, “Logan’s pretty invincible when it comes to dealing with it.”  
  


Roman shook his head, “When was the last time we saw Logan laugh? Smile? Talk about a new thing he found out recently? When was the last time we made him feel as if he was part of our family?”  
  
Patton let out a shuddering breath, “Logan’s not immune to having his feelings hurt, kiddo,

We just realised that a little too late,”

-

Thomas lay on his bed awake, his thoughts coming out now that there was nothing to distract him from them. This was completely different from the images Remus gives him, but they bring him goosebumps nonetheless.  
  
His hands gripped at his blanket, feeling tears fall down his face. Thomas shifted his position for the fourth time that night. He found himself unable to clear his head, unknown emotions bursting from his chest.  
  
_‘I can’t believe I’ve been so negligent of the state of one of my valued sides,’_ his thoughts spat.  
  
_‘Ignorance is bliss but it’s consequences bit back hard,’_ his thoughts reprimanded.  
  
_‘It’s not just my fault, it’s their fault too,’_ his thoughts screamed.  
  
And suddenly Thomas felt anger and shame built up in his gut. It was as if there was a whirlwind of feelings that he didn’t know how to handle. There was wind blowing past his ears and he can no longer hear anything.

‘ _What have you done? What have we done?’_

_‘Aren’t you sick of all this pointless arguing? Everyone just keeps getting hurt,’_

_‘This is what happens if you don’t listen to logic!’_  
  
There was just anger.

-

The next day came too quickly for any of them. Thomas quickly started the video call, praying that Logan would answer. The other sides appeared one by one, greeting the others a good morning and engaging in small talk. Finally, everyone was present; they all sat in tense silence waiting for Logan to come on.  
  
A minute passed, two minutes, five, and soon they were just sitting there an hour later with no one showing up. Thomas was about to give up and call his sides to start their backup plan until suddenly a small ‘ding!’ caught their attention.  
  
A new screen had appeared with the camera and mic off.  
  
“Logan!” Thomas almost cried in relief. Patton perked up and Roman and Remus snapped to their screens in attention.  
  
“Hey Teach,” Virgil called weakly.  
  
There wasn’t any response.  
  
Patton deflated a little but managed a welcoming smile.  
  
“Hey, Lo. We’re sorry we shut you down yesterday, especially since you were right from the start. We should have listened to you. We should have been listening to you. We should have done better,” he spoke as gently as possible but holding his voice firm.  
  
“Yes, Ner—uh, Logan. It was unheroic of me to ignore you when you’ve been having a hard time. I told myself I was going to do better but did not hold up to my promise. For that, I deeply apologise. Will you ever forgive us?” Roman said, laden with guilt.  
  
“Yeah L, I noticed a while ago that you’ve been struggling but I brushed it aside even after I acknowledged it. I’ve been a real asshole to you and everyone else. You deserve better treatment than what we’ve been giving you. I really am sorry, Lo,” Virgil’s eyes darted from screen to screen as he rubbed his arms nervously.  
  
Remus gave a shrug when everyone turned to him.  
  
“I can’t say I’m sorry cause I never shut you down save that one time. But still, I miss your weird talks and ramblings, nerd. Everyone else is so boring and never let me do anything juicy! No one else blows stuff up just to see what happens! You understand my shit; even you’re a bit different about it. So I want you to come back so I won’t be by myself anymore,”  
  
Thomas was a little shocked about what Remus said, but the others seemed more guilty than surprised. They should work on that too, he figured.  
  
Janus stared at each of them intensely before breathing in deeply and removing his gloves.  
  
“Logan, I can’t lie to you when I say I absolutely regret shutting you down, benching you, and silencing you just to help myself. I should have done it differently rather than shoving you off to the side. I respect you and how you work, I should’ve shown it to you better. I am so sorry. I hope that we can have a better work relationship in the future and I hope you can trust me on this,” Janus said as truthfully as he can.

Thomas nodded, feeling emotional. He turned back the screen and took a big breath.  
  
“I’m sorry too Logan. I took you for granted despite how much you’ve done for me, for us. My life would be in shambles without you. I haven’t been giving you the respect and attention you deserve. I’m sure if I listened to you more, I would have fewer problems. I—we are sorry. We promise to do better. Please, can you come back? We wish to tell you this in person, Lo; as a family. But if… if you don’t want us to see you right now it’s alright. Just know that we love you,”  
  
By the end of his small speech, Thomas was in tears and everyone else looked close to it. Patton had a hand over his mouth to muffle the sobs coming out.  
  
They were answered with silence. Thomas bit his lip, feeling a little bit hopeless.  
  
_‘Funny how you think your little show would fix anything,’_

Wait a minute…  
  
Suddenly Logan turned his mic back on and they could hear it: peals of cackling laughter, mocking and awful, grating their ears.

“oh, this is hilarious,”

Thomas recognized that tone. It was the same one that kept prodding at his head last night. Janus quickly sat up, eyes wide and alert. Thomas suddenly felt dread wash over him when he recognized the fear all over Janus’ face. Patton wasn’t fairing any better, his face drained of all color.  
  
The others looked confused but not at all happy with what they’re hearing either.

“thomas, you’ve upset blue a lot. so he let me out!” _  
  
_A smile was visible in their voice. Thomas felt his face flush as he felt adrenaline course through his body. He grits his teeth and he just can’t help but feel _irrational and angry._

“think of me as a stand-in! it’s not like it matters cause you don’t listen to logic anyways,”

The new person’s voice got more and more distorted the longer they spoke. Thomas’ heart started beating quickly as they turned on the camera.  
  
“hello thomas! it's nice to finally meet you,”  
  
Janus narrowed his eyes.  
_  
“Orange,”_ he hissed  
  


~~With O̵̞̮͎͑̈́͘r̶̻̻̈ǎ̵n̸͛g̷ë̸́  
  
~~

“you hear that blue?” they called, “they’re apologizing to you,”  
  
Logan was curled up in the couch, under a blanket, watching the other side interact with Thomas and the others. Tears were streaming down his face as he listened to them making heartfelt apologies and pleas for him to come back. ~~  
  
~~“you can still accept what they’re saying and go back y’know,” Orange hummed, tapping their fingers on the desk.  
  
Logan kept his mouth shut tightly, unsure how to go on from there. He buried his head under his star clad blanket and gave a small shrug.  
  
“you want me to stall? i can make them run around in circles for a bit, make them really miss,”  
  
Logan shrugged again. He tried to dry his tears and keep his whimpers quiet but it was fairly obvious from his shaking form that he was going to have another crying fit.  
  
“okay, blue. i’ll deal with them,” Orange said.

They started tapping a small rhythm on the desk, gesturing at Logan to listen. Logan nodded along, quiet as ever, before eventually falling asleep.

The rhythm continues. ~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> might fuck around and make this a series
> 
> EDIT: THERE’S FANART https://pocket-void.tumblr.com/post/625093792073154560/ok-ok-i-cant-believe-i-managed-to-do-this-in-like

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by @ameliessanderssidesblog's zoom call idea. 
> 
> I wrote all of this in like a day starting 3am. Check me out on Tumblr @mr-scandalous. :> :> :>


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